She competed as part of the Texas Tech Red Raiders cross country and track and field teams under coach Wes Kittley.

She is sponsored by Nike, Inc.[5] Born in Kapsowar, Marakwet District, Kipyego attended Kaptiony Primary School.

The following year, she represented Kenya as a junior at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, finishing eighth.

[11] As the nation's top collegiate female cross country runner, Kipyego was selected to receive the 2008 Honda Sports Award.

[12] On 14 March 2008, Kipyego won her sixth national title at the 2008 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships in the 5000 m, again with a world-leading time.

[17] On 1 November 2008, Kipyego won the Big 12 Cross Country Championships with a time of 19:45, more than 50 seconds faster than second-place teammate Lillian Badaru.

[23] In her final collegiate race, the mile, three-tenths of a second separated Kipyego from winner Sarah Bowman of the University of Tennessee.

SAC Relays and was in the top four of the event at the New York, Eugene and London legs of the 2010 IAAF Diamond League, before coming fifth in the final at the Memorial Van Damme with a new best of 14:38.64 minutes.

[26] At the start of 2011 she won the 3000 m at the Boston Indoor meet, then set an outdoor 1500 metres best of 4:06.23 minutes at the Oregon Relays in April.

On the 2011 IAAF Diamond League she competed over 5000 m: she was fourth at the Prefontaine Classic, but managed second place at the DN Galan and Weltklasse Zürich meetings (improving her best to 14:30.42 minutes at the latter).

[26] She established herself internationally at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, where she was the silver medallist in the 10,000 m, finishing second to her compatriot Vivian Cheruiyot.

[32] In March 2014, Sally Kipyego won and set the New York City half marathon women's record[33][34] in 1:08:31.

Sally Kipyego won the Millrose Games women's 3000m in 8:41.72, setting a meet record, and finishing 1.47 seconds ahead of compatriot Betsy Saina.

[41] The NYC Marathon weather forecast a high of 65 on race day, with a 50 percent chance of rain and 9 mph winds.

[45] On June 30, 2016, Kipyego ran 32:37.11 for 10,000 meters at 2016 Athletics Kenya Olympic Trials in Eldoret at 2200 m (7,217 ft 10 in) elevation.

[46][47] Runner-up Sally Kipyego (2:28:01) at 2016 New York City Marathon behind winner Mary Keitany (2:24:26) and ahead of Molly Huddle who placed third in 2:28:13.

She ran with the front runners alongside teammate Molly Seidel and the top Kenyans (Peres Jepchirchir and Brigid Kosgei) through the first half of the race.

These events gave Kipyego the desire to become a nurse so she could help provide better healthcare in her native country.